“Against all odds, a seed rises from darkness and beautifies the universe.” ― Matshona Dhliwayo

Look around our world and you’ll see the forces of life persisting and even thriving in some of the least logical or hospitable places. Like seeds buried in the dark womb of our Mother Earth, the majority of plant, animal and human life forms only exist by reaching for and finding light. Doing so is programmed into our cell memories as is evidenced from the moment we each decide to vacate the warmth and darkness of our mother’s womb, an act which miraculously illustrates the meaning of “out of darkness comes light”. One cannot be understood without the other, yet we rarely associate the beauty of life with the darkness of death. The truth is that much of life is rooted in death. Leaves fall and decompose, leaving behind organic matter that will nourish the soil from which new life will arise. Forests are purposely scorched using controlled burns to replenish nitrogen in depleted soil. Scavenger animals obtain their energy from the dead /decaying bodies of other animals. Seeds and spores are carried by wind and emerge as proof of life in some of our planet’s most unlikely places, like the mausoleum above. Animals and humans often survive against all odds in the figuratively darkest of places and in spite of people around them in whom the light has dimmed or died. So what’s my point? The brave Anne Frank is remembered as saying “Where there’s hope there’s life,” and the ancient Roman orater Marcus Tullius Cicero stated,”Where there is life there is hope.” The photos above bear witness to both.